Language Overflow

Araucaria

00:27

@StoneyB That's good going though with no holidays toilet breaks visits to ELLUor other work, it seems to me? Still might be room for a SB grammar guide ...!

@StoneyB Ciao, am off to hit the hay

modulusshift

06:34

@DamkerngT. Hmm. "wait" was transitive at one point, so you can't use that. Same with "stay" and "fast". Well, to be fair, I'm actually having trouble thinking of a verb that wasn't transitive with respect to an interval, now.

Damkerng T.

09:31

@modulusshift I think wait is somewhat special. Wait a minute or Wait a sec is now a set phrase, I think. So, it's probably not a good verb for the analysis.

goo.gl/uZlLHM

wait a second has become more popular than wait for a second since around 1910.

Jim Reynolds

09:49

2

Q: Mammals "give birth to live young"

I see the phrase "live young" used when describing mammals. For example, in Wikipedia: Most mammals are viviparous, giving birth to live young What does the phrase "live young" signify here? I guess it might mean "a young [animal] that is alive", but if this is the case isn't it at best red...

I thought this was off-topic, at first. But now I think there's an on-topic question about the meaning of "live young", and I think @modulusshift gives a good answer.

@snailboat Hail!

exclamation archaic
exclamation: hail
1.
expressing greeting or acclaim.
"hail, Caesar!"

And now, let us hail snailboat

praise (someone or something) enthusiastically.
"he has been hailed as the new James Dean"

@snailboat is the James Dean of ELL chatrooms

Anonymous

Wait is still transitive, unless you think the complement in wait several hours is something other than an object. I suppose you could make that argument.

CopperKettle

(;´･ω･)

@DamkerngT. "wait for a second" may include "wait for a second train/bottle/one/ etc."

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle True!

CopperKettle

Good afternoon, @snailboat! And Damnkerng!

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle I saw you in the latest the question. Nice question!

CopperKettle

10:02

@DamkerngT. Thanks! I never can tell which of my "the" questions will be considered "good". The one regarding a BBC article really amazed me, it was upvoted so vigorously.

Anonymous

Good morning!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Good morning!

Hmm... "give birth to live young". What is "young"? An uncountable noun?

CopperKettle

@DamkerngT. a noun derived from an adjective

1

Q: How to settle this sentence dispute?

Sentence: You, boys, must settle it __ yourselves Problem: Fill in an apt. preposition in the blank. Attempt: I am thinking of "by". My friend is thinking of "amongst". I suggest "by" because that means that those boys have to settle their dispute on their own. He suggested "amongst" bec...

prepositions

settle it amongst themselves --- ngram

Anonymous

Yes, it's non-count

CopperKettle

(in a computer game design office)

Damkerng T.

10:09

@snailboat nods -- I felt a little weird because there is no the in front of young, though it's idiomatic.

Anonymous

Between, among, amongst, for, by, ∅

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle Virtual plants!

CopperKettle

but we can use the with noncount nouns: "The destitute, the poor"

Anonymous

Better without the. It's not definite in this context.

Anonymous

It's possible to use the if it makes sense, though.

Anonymous

10:13

@CopperKettle Those are adjectives.

CopperKettle

@snailboat Thanks! That explains the use of the

Anonymous

You can use the with non-count nouns.

Jim Reynolds

@sna ∅

Who cut the cheese?

I mean ∅ ??

What does it mean?

Oh. settle it yourselves

Anonymous

The empty set symbol, usually pronounced 'zero' in linguistics, refers here to using no preposition at all.

Jim Reynolds

Slaps self. Think first Jim, then talk.

CopperKettle

10:16

African giant snails are used in cosmetics procedures in Moscow clinics. Weird.

Damkerng T.

o_O

Jim Reynolds

That's why snailboat's boat is so clean.

It's not at all a dingey dinghy.

Anonymous

I wouldn't let an achatinid crawl on my face! Scary.

Anonymous

Aww, look at how cute this snail is: en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Achatinidae

Anonymous

Wiktionary is full of pet snail pictures! en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Achatina#Translingual

CopperKettle

10:32

It says they are considered dangerous pests in the US!

I doubt it is so in Russia. They just would not survive here.

Anonymous

That's true. They're particularly bad as an invasive species.

Anonymous

But unlike the most successful invasive snails, Helix aspersa, the giant African land snails require quite warm temperatures to thrive.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat That guy looks like a curious snail!

Anonymous

@CopperKettle pensoft.net/book/9822/…

Anonymous

Snails that can survive in Russia!

CopperKettle

10:37

(0:

@snailboat Russia has snail farms.

Anonymous

Heliculture.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle Russians are crazy. O_O

Anonymous

There are snail farms around the world.

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. No, I just googled, and it turns out that Europe is shot through with snail farms.

They write it's quite profitable.

Japanese lang-8 users write such cute stories in Russian.

@snailboat Sorry for bringing up such an unsensitive topic as snail farming.

Damkerng T.

11:41

0

Q: Can you suggest me a well-known writer to learn from his style?

I have problems with English writing -though i watched a course on scientific writing- but my style is really still poor. I think it would be great, if you suggested me a good well-known writer who writes a weekly article and then i follow his style.

writing

It's just logical that learners would seek their examples (or even idols :P).

Damkerng T.

12:07

1

Q: What does this one sentence mean considering the context?

Mycroft Holmes: I have access to the top level of the MI5 archive. Mary Morstan: [already looking at that archive via her phone] Yep, that's where I'm looking. Mycroft Holmes: What do you think of MI5 security? Mary Morstan: I think it would be a good idea. I don't know exactly what the las...

meaning-in-context

Ahh... it's Sherlock.

Damkerng T.

12:43

"A brick fell down from a building" is an Adverbial-Phrase, an Independent Clause modifying the verb "made." — lurker Jan 2 at 20:16

o_O

@lurker The "brick" is the subject of the sentence, it doesn't modify the verb. This is a compound sentence with one subject - the brick - and two verbs, "fell" and "made". — GalacticCowboy 24 mins ago

Phew!

Anonymous

@CopperKettle Don't worry about it :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Nope!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Right, a brick is the subject of both clauses.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I was dumbstruck for about 999 cycles. :P

Anonymous

(Technically, what I said just now is slightly different, but it's pretty close.)

Anonymous

12:47

Wait, didn't I respond to that comment?

Anonymous

checks

Anonymous

Yay, I did!

Damkerng T.

You did!

I saw yours after GalacticCowboys'

Anonymous

A modifies B is a specific kind of relationship. Not every kind of relationship is modification.

Anonymous

Independent clauses don't generally modify stuff, anyway.

Damkerng T.

12:50

nods

Anonymous

That comment is frankly one of the more incoherent descriptions I've read on ELL.

Jim Reynolds

0

A: How to settle this sentence dispute?

All of the following are correct and do not differ in meaning according to which option is selected. The only exception is that among or amongst would generally not be chosen if only two boys are being addressed. Not all good or educated writers and language experts agree with the commonly-held...

Anonymous

But I think the core of lurker's confusion is failing to distinguish subordination and coordination properly.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... maybe it was before the sentence was edited? Was the sentence edited?

Anonymous

I don't believe so.

Jim Reynolds

12:51

Snailboat has settled. By The Hand of the snailboat

Anonymous

When you have a coordination like A and B, both A and B are on equal terms.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat It could be okay if it didn't get an upvote.

Anonymous

Neither A nor B is subordinate to the other.

Anonymous

That's why we use co- instead of sub-.

Damkerng T.

@JimReynolds I spent only about 19 cycles before casting my vote. :P

Jim Reynolds

12:52

@snailboat and I thank you.

O.O

Damkerng T.

(1 cycle ~ 1.016 msec :-)

Jim Reynolds

FTPs Dam some wireless charging.

Damkerng T.

being charged happily...

Song of the Day: Baby Come Back ♪〜♫

@KarelCapek Thank you for choosing my answer! However, it's recommended on our site that we should wait for a while (perhaps a day) before choosing to accept an answer. (For more information, see Not so fast! (When should I accept my answer?)) — Damkerng T. Jan 7 at 21:33

Jim Reynolds

Is is right to say that they don't differ in meaning?

Yet when someone feels love at first sight, whom amongst us would dare intervene?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Heh, who starred my message?

2

Damkerng T.

12:57

Hmm... I don't think they all mean the same.

Not me

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

OK it's @Jim.

Jim Reynolds

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Perhaps you'll never know.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Yep. It's Jim.

Jim Reynolds

But they can mean the same.

There might be some subtle differences.

Well, we'd expect there to be. Hmmmm.

Damkerng T.

I think they could end up the same, but they don't mean precisely the same.

Jim Reynolds

12:58

How will snailboat say it?

:D

Damkerng T.

preparing to spend 123 megacycles to redefine the meaning of 'meaning'...

Anonymous

So neither modifies the other.

Jim Reynolds

I've made a little change.

Anonymous

People use modify to refer to a lot of different things, but it has a somewhat specific meaning.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@JimReynolds That it's documented in CGEL, page 1801.5.

Anonymous

13:00

the red apple ← red modifies apple

Anonymous

The apple is red. ← red does not modify apple; it predicates on apple.

Jim Reynolds

What is?

Oh! Interesting distinction. I never realized that.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Ah! I got it. Hahaha.

Classic snailboat.

Anonymous

Technically, it's a complement of is.

Anonymous

But it predicates semantically.

Anonymous

So I'm comparing apples and oranges!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

13:02

@JimReynolds Classic modifies Snailboat.

Jim Reynolds

I don't know ... hahah ... what to predicate means.

X is predicated on O: depends on.

ol

Anonymous

@JimReynolds It comes from the traditional idea that a clause consists of a subject and predicate.

Jim Reynolds

I did something out loud.

Anonymous

[The apple] (subject) [is red] (predicate)

Jim Reynolds

Antiquated, can we say?

Anonymous

13:03

It's still a useful concept.

Jim Reynolds

I think that's why the guy and I are comment-battling.

Anonymous

But we can distinguish syntactic and semantic predication.

Anonymous

Syntactically, the entire verb phrase is red is the predicate.

Jim Reynolds

Is "tired" in "I was tired and went to bed" a verb phrase?

Damkerng T.

Here is my guess: "I think it would be a good idea (if it existed)." (I'm not really sure about the context, though.) — Damkerng T. 46 secs ago

Anonymous

13:04

Semantically, is doesn't add anything except tense, and red predicates on the subject.

Jim Reynolds

In a traditional concept?

Damkerng T.

Or maybe "I think it would be a good idea (to have)".

Anonymous

@JimReynolds Tired is an adjective phrase there, the complement of was. Was tired is a verb phrase.

Damkerng T.

Hmm... So, CopperKettle is more or less correct, I think.

Jim Reynolds

@JimReynolds It's grammatical, but both "tired" and "went to bed" are verb phrases. Not only can a predicate adjective be coordinated with another verb phrase, but it can also be elided under identity with a preceding verb phrase: "She was tired, and I was, too." — Greg Lee 21 hours ago

Oh.. that's not what I meant to paste.

Anonymous

13:05

I disagree, was tired is the verb phrase, not tired.

Damkerng T.

I disagree with Greg Lee in that comment.

Anonymous

In English, adjective phrases can't function directly as predicates (like they can in some languages), so we need to add an auxiliary be to bear tense.

Damkerng T.

Wait, who am I agreeing and disagreeing with?

Jim Reynolds

Yeah. I'm not going to comment further. One person not knowing what he's talking about is quite enough!

Anonymous

Be is a verb and can head a verb phrase, and verb phrases function as predicates in English, so we can make a verb phrase out of an adjective phrase by adding be.

Jim Reynolds

13:07

I be going to dinnah! See you later.

Anonymous

Later, @JimReynolds!

Damkerng T.

Have a nice dinner!

Anonymous

Be is our basic copula in English, and in the common case it doesn't add any meaning, just serves a grammatical role, linking A to B in A is B.

Anonymous

That's what "copula" means, something that links two things together. That's why people sometimes use the term "linking verb".

Anonymous

It couples A to B.

Usernew

13:14

does I left my umbrella at home. have the Verb + object + adverbial?

pattern

Jim Reynolds

At least in traditional grammar, yes. @Usernew

Usernew

and same goes for I forgot my umbrella at home.?

Anonymous

Or locative adjunct :-)

Damkerng T.

Hmm... you forgot your umbrella when you were at home?

Usernew

hmmm

so wold that sentence be ungrammatical?

Damkerng T.

13:20

I think [I-forgot-umbrella-at-home] works in Thai, but doesn't work well in English.

Usernew

or just ambiguous?

yes

Damkerng T.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's marginal.

Usernew

locative adjunct :)

I am quite not sure if it's wrong

if forgot it at home works, I forgot my umbrella at home should also work. But the questions is whether it has the same pattern of V+O+AD?

Anonymous

@Usernew They both work and have the same structure.

Damkerng T.

> books.google.com/books?id=rUoFA6SNnY4C&pg=PA13

Anonymous

13:27

@DamkerngT. That's because umbrella isn't a pronoun, it's a common noun, so it wants a determiner: my umbrella

Damkerng T.

@snailboat I was thinking about left vs. forgot. It seems like either is fine.

Anonymous

Hmm.

Anonymous

Well, in my dialect at least, forgot works that way.

Usernew

then why does Oxford conclude it to have different pattern?

Anonymous

It could be dialectal.

Damkerng T.

13:28

nods

Anonymous

With left being standard and forgot being non-standard.

Anonymous

But forgot sounds fine to me in that construction.

Anonymous

So at least in my dialect, it's fine, if perhaps informal.

Anonymous

You could do a little survey and see what some other speakers think of it :-)

Usernew

But Ox-ford says this: Leave can come in this pattern, but forget cannot.
I left my umbrella at home. But NOT I forgot my umbrella at home.

hmmm need quick answer

Damkerng T.

13:29

Or, Oxford says that?!

Interesting!

Usernew

cz have to re-tag some questions

Damkerng T.

Maybe the BrE in me was at work.

Anonymous

"Oxford" doesn't say things. Oxford University Press publishes books by lots of different people.

Usernew

An Ox and a Car brand that goes by "ford" :D

Anonymous

Some of them are good, some of them are bad. Some of them are good, but nonetheless may not be perfect.

Damkerng T.

13:30

Hah! So it was a parody dictionary?

Usernew

:"(

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

I suspect that Wikipedia is the only of these anywhere near in size of the SE network, the last three are tiny compared to SE. — Mad Scientist ♦ 18 hours ago

Usernew

I always thought oxford to be perfect

Anonymous

Now, I'm certain that for at least some native speakers forget can work that way.

Anonymous

But maybe not all. We need more evidence to figure it out.

Damkerng T.

13:31

I remember I've seen a parody dictionary published in Hong Kong or Singapore once. I'm not sure which one it was.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Usernew Nothing is perfect in the world I live in.

Usernew

yyyeeeaaah

Anonymous

@Usernew When you say "Oxford", what specifically do you mean?

Usernew

Really? you come live in my country @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Usernew Where everything is perfect?

Usernew

13:31

John Eastwood Oxford guide to blah blah blah

@snailboat

Anonymous

The Oxford Guide to English Grammar, then.

Anonymous

I don't have that book.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Sounds like a book we can trust. :-)

Anonymous

It may be very good. I have no idea. Please don't take what I said earlier as implying that it's not.

Usernew

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. somewhat close

Damkerng T.

13:34

In any case, I think we can at least say that some speakers use forget that way, and some may object to that.

Usernew

it's actually good, but nothing of your interest, I guess.

Anonymous

@Usernew Oh, why not? I like books on grammar :-)

Usernew

I accidentally downloaded it while going through some encyclopedias to download :D

but you probably know everything included in the book :P

@snailboat

Anonymous

Oh, is it fairly basic?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@snailboat It might be acidic.

Anonymous

13:36

Congratulations, @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ., you've earned one eye roll :-)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Books are usually acidic.

Usernew

shall I give you some screenshots?

Anonymous

I like acid-free paper.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Especially old ones.

Usernew

Index and some radom pages?

Anonymous

13:36

I'm not sure it's true that books are usually acidic these days.

Anonymous

But I think it used to be.

Usernew

Here's the index mollusk @snailboat

Anonymous

Wow, Participles are way off to the side!

Anonymous

I guess they don't play well with others.

Usernew

haha

Anonymous

13:39

Sub clause is an interesting term.

Anonymous

There are a lot of different sets of terminology for the main/sub clause pair.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

I wonder how the page layouts are in the " Particles" section.

@snailboat Makes me uneasy.

Anonymous

Matrix and embedded clause; independent and independent clause; main and subordinate clause; and now this last has been abbreviated to main and sub!

Usernew

Anonymous

So it's a pedagogical grammar.

Usernew

13:40

and here is the random page

Anonymous

Ah, they use the active and passive participle terminology.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Usernew Seems useful for students in our class.

Usernew

yes! @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

do you know why the robot is not talking?

there's another book I downloaded accidentally!

but that's about dinosaurs :D

Anonymous

I think I saw them cut the tree down usually implies you saw the whole thing, or at least you saw it complete. I saw them cutting the tree down probably means you saw the action while it was in progress, and you may or may not have seen the whole thing or seen it complete.

Anonymous

Sometimes there may not be any real difference between the two.

Usernew

13:43

hmm

Damkerng T.

@Usernew That looks a bit like PEU!

Usernew

@DamkerngT. :D

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Usernew Did they saw each other? O_O

Damkerng T.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. You need to fix the pH of your grammarium!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. Nah, pretty sure the killer is the chainsaw man since he sawed the detective.

Damkerng T.

13:49

Ah, I see... What Saw was it?

Usernew

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. I guess so @_@

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

A see saw

Usernew

@DamkerngT. this saw

or probably this: :O

Damkerng T.

The latter is scarier!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@Usernew Creepy. How does it float?

Usernew

13:55

It's pinned on an invisible wall

Do you see the tiny dot at the tip

?

the first becomes even more scary if some giant man is behind you running with that instrument in his hand to chop...

chop some...

Jim Reynolds

Please leave the forgetting at home.

Usernew

Trees!

Jim Reynolds

If going to the vet for stool testing, don't forget the leavings at home.

Usernew

have to go now. Bye and Good Night. @Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. @DamkerngT. @snailboat @JimReynolds

Damkerng T.

Good night!

@JimReynolds o_O

in English Language & Usage, 2 hours ago, by Federico

I cannot understand a sentence from (this article)[http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2016/01/12/now-someone-can-steal-your-wi-fi-password-from-your-doorbell/]:
"That button put the lock into wireless AP mode for which allows you to paid it with your own network on your phone."
What is this sentence supposed to mean?

Can I ask this as a question on this SE? Or is it more suited for a quick discussion here in chat?

calculating the probability of the sentence being written by a native speaker...

> That button put the lock into wireless AP mode for which allows you to paid it with your own network on your phone.

Did they change their mind in the mid-sentence?

Anonymous

14:12

I have no idea what that sentence is supposed to mean.

Damkerng T.

I guess that they mean that if someone pushes or flips that button, it will put the lock (which is an IoT device, I think) into the wireless AP mode. That mode is a mode that allows us to pay for things FedEx delivers to our doors, and the payment will be done on our own network on our own phone.

But they squeezed a lot of things into just one sentence.

Anonymous

14:41

The first part sounds right. The paid part doesn't sound quite right.

Anonymous

A-ha!

Anonymous

I think paid is a typo for pair.

Anonymous

Ahh, now it makes sense.

Anonymous

For which is still strange, mind you.

Damkerng T.

Oh, pair makes much more sense!

Damkerng T.

15:37

A very rare pattern on the web: "I was reading (the) pages there"

Only 1 result: last.fm/es/group/TorrentBytes/forum/18990/_/590868?setlang=es

> I do not involve in social activities, but reading the pages from TB's forum was always fun.
...
I still miss those days when I was coming tired from work and I was reading the pages there.

Let's see. What if it's book?

> "I was reading some books there" - 0 results

> "I was reading books there" - 5 results (none from Google Books)

> "I was reading the books there" - 8 results (1 from ELL; none from Google Books)

It seems like we can find more results if we change was reading to read.

Maybe writing it this way can get away from all the frowning :-)

> This is my post from History Stack Exchange. I was reading some of the posts there and one specific issue interested me. That's why I wrote that post.

I find this post by CopperKettle very interesting because, for some reason, I feel the sentence (as originally written) a little awkward with or without the.

CopperKettle

18:03

@DamkerngT. Ben Kovits's comment about my NYPL example seems to be in line with your observation, Damnkerng.

This is one of the best missives on the definite article I've encountered on ELL. — J.R. ♦ 2 hours ago

Since it's one of the best missives, I'll try to understand it. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle O_O When did that en enter @Dam's name?

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Oops, I'm terribly sorry. An epenthetic n..

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Epenthetic just forget it.

Epenthetic @Dam is too much of a (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ guy to bother.

Damkerng T.

@CopperKettle :-)

BK's answer seems pretty good to me.

But others have good points, too.

CopperKettle

I upvoted it. It's curious how the natives see so much sense in articles, when to non-natives they are just pesky extras.

CopperKettle

18:35

I've got a couple of new books. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle Yay! Unfortunately, education doesn't allow me to learn anything non-education.

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. I believe education is even better than sporadic reading!

> His widely acclaimed memoir Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery was published by Orion Publishers in 2014[1] and according to The Economist is "So elegantly written it is little wonder some say that in Mr Marsh neurosurgery has found its Boswell."

I never heard of Boswell before.

James Boswell

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (/ˈbɒzˌwɛl, -wəl/; 29 October 1740 – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson, which the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom has claimed is the greatest biography written in the English language. Boswell's surname has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer, especially one who records those observations in print. In A Scandal in Bohemia...

A nice quote:

> [Boswell:] "Mr. Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it."
[Johnson:] "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help."

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Wow, this guy is/was really smart.

CopperKettle

Yes, I read about him.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

18:54

> The FBI task force believes that Cooper was a careful and shrewd planner. He demanded four parachutes to force the assumption that he might compel one or more hostages to jump with him, thus ensuring he would not be deliberately supplied with sabotaged equipment.

Very smart.

VERY smart.

CopperKettle

Muhammad, if you by chance are planning a hijack, you'd be VERY smart not to talk about it in a publicly read chatroom. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle I'm planning to hijack the exam I got on Friday.

CopperKettle

(Now you owe me 10% of the snatch for good advice)

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. (0:

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

I'm just reading a free crime story that is more neatly organized than they usually are.

CopperKettle

nods

Probably the majority of gifted folks opt for non-criminal ways of life.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

19:02

Probably? :)

CopperKettle

Yes, I haven't proven this hypothesis. One would need MRI data, IQ tests, the whole shebang. (0:

Gifted folks turn to crime when in large groups, probably.

Like Ribbentrop with his IQ of 130

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

What?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

19:21

> The subject can be the beer of a sentence.

LOL

Nihilist_Frost

2

Q: "if not" with verbs

What does "if not" mean in the given sentence Lots of examples are shown in the above Q&A. But most usages of "if not" seem to involve adjectives. My question is, can we use "if not" to mean something like We will at least circumvent the problem, even when we cannot fix it. Here two verb...

idioms

CopperKettle

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. he meant "the doer". Oh, wait. The beer it also can be.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle They meant "do-er" or "be-er". I know.

CopperKettle

The adverbial clause can be the chaser to the beer of a sentence.

V.V.

" (As a native speaker, it sounds very strange)"The question about "homework ".Is the sentence correct? Sorry. for interrupting.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

19:30

@V.V. Which one?

V.V.

MAR, the first one, in brackets.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

No, I mean which question are you talking about?

V.V.

A homework or homework?

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

"A homework" is ungrammatical IMO.

Then again, I'm sometimes too extreme in my decisions, and indecisive in others.

CopperKettle

7

Q: Is "homework" countable?

I was wondering if "homework" is countable? I remember it is an uncountable noun when I learned English in middle school. Suppose now I would like to ask my teacher to hand back my graded "homeworks" of last three times. How shall I ask him?

nouns

Damkerng T.

19:36

You need assignments, if you want something countable.

CopperKettle

Perzactly! (as Stoney says)

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

There goes nothing.

Damkerng T.

1

Q: "Toasters and insulin pumps"?

Why does the author use this as a title of the following Paragraph: Toasters and insulin pumps But email is not solely the province of people. We've been hooking up machines to email for decades. By 2040 we'll have trillions of sensors and devices engaging in conversation with people and ea...

false-title

Question of the Day: Is this a language specific problem?

Or is it about metalinguistic awareness?

V.V.

No,I meant the comment in the answer. Beginning with "as a native speaker...

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@V.V. I still dunno what question you're talking about.

Damkerng T.

19:44

@V.V. "As a native speaker" is fine.

E.g., "As a learner, my opinion is yada, yada, yada."

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

Oh, now I see what you meant. Those are parenthesis not brackets @V.V.!

CopperKettle

Parentheses are round brackets, IMHO.

V.V.

And the rest?"As a native speaker,it sounds very strange "

Damkerng T.

"It sounds (very) strange" is also fine.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

I see you're taking it as if "As a native speaker" should refer to "it" but that's not what "As" constructions do.

Damkerng T.

19:46

It sounds weird; it sounds strange; it sounds off; it sounds iffy; and such.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@CopperKettle IMHO round brackets ≠ brackets IMHO

It sounds wired. :P

Damkerng T.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Hah?!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. I broke trying to get the intonation of that right.

Damkerng T.

"As a native speaker, it sounds very strange" doesn't sound like formal written English.

V.V.

I believe it doesn't make sense.Like "Driving to the airport my hat flew away"

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

19:51

@V.V. You can add a "while" and make it correct.

Damkerng T.

@Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ. Right! The hat didn't drive to the airport, though.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

@DamkerngT. OK I give up.

Damkerng T.

On what?!

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

On commenting further on this.

Whether it semantically works or not.

Damkerng T.

But, but, but I agree with you.

Ϻ.Λ.Ʀ.

19:54

Or wait, maybe the "while" wasn't necessary anyway.

Damkerng T.

That is what I was thinking.

In a right context, it should work.

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